Plastic cabinet drawer construction



Aug. 29, 1961 w. e. LARSON PLASTIC CABINET DRAWER CONSTRUCTION 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 18, 1957 n 5 mu 8 pm 5/ o m CHRT/ A T 5 M MDW2 H w 9 I m E u u 2" g a z m 7 I m w. m

Aug. 29, 1961 w. e. LARSON PLASTIC CABINET DRAWER CONSTRUCTION 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 18, 1957 W? 3% wflawu I 0 5 I 7 j 4 r M a W 4r L .1 4 w J w L W Ii..\ 6 3 i6 3 4 n (T 4 aw .4 .(4 k 9) 0 4 4 fill622W i Valiel" 6 Larva/v 2,998,128 PLASTIC CABINET DRAWER CONSTRUCTIONWalter G. Larson, Rockford, Ill., assignor to Elco Tool and ScrewCorporation, Rockford, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Feb. 18,1957, Ser. No. 640,728 6 Claims. (Cl. 206-4534) This invention relatesto a new and improved plastic cabinet drawer construction and has forits principal object the provision in elongated multiple compartmentcabinets of drawers which are of square cross-section and designed foruse intercehangeably in any one of the compartments in amulti-compartment cabinet, whether the cabinet is placed in a horizontalplane or in a vertical plane, the cabinets having portions designed tointerfit when stacked either way, that is, horizontally on top of oneanother or vertically alongside one another, as may best suit the usersneeds in a home work-shop or other place.

The drawers, in accordance with my invention, are provided of one-piececonstruction, molded of clear plastic material to enable the user to seeat a glance what is in a drawer and how much or how little of a givensize of screws, bolts, nuts or other commodity, so that that he canreadily see when the supply should be replenished. I prefer to providevertical ribs in each drawer on opposite sides in closely spacedrelation to the front to define guides for identification cards such asit is contemplated the screw manufacturer will insert, giving thecorrect specifications for the screws, bolts, or the like which thedrawer contains when sold originally, the thought being that the usermay continue to use the drawer for the same item from then on and, inthat event, will keep the identification card in its place in the drawerfront as a means of knowing what to ask for when replenishing his stockand is therefore not so apt to get the wrong size. Each drawer is alsooriginally equipped with a top slide closure entered in guides providedon the upper edges of the side walls, which can be easily and securelyfastened in place with strips of adhesive material applied to theopposite sides of the drawer overlapping the top closure, so that theclosure is partly supported by the guides against accidentaldisplacement and partly by the strips. In this Way, at a cost onlyslightly above what would be involved if a cardboard carton of similarsize were used, the screw manufacturer, by giving away the plasticcontainer as a premium, encourages the purchaser in buying a largerquantity of each size of screws or bolts than he would otherwise be aptto purchase at one time, and the retailer makes enough profit per saleto make it worth his while to feature the screw manufacturers productsin a floor or counter display, and the chances are that with theidentification card going with each drawer bearing the screwmanufacturers name, the purchaser is more apt to go back to the samestore where he purchased the drawer-full and get the drawer refilledwith the same manufacturers products, so that the volume of sales isincreased and both the retailer and the manufacturer realize moreprofit.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein-FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are a top, side and front view, respectively, of aplastic drawer made in accordance with my invention showing the coverslide in FIGS. 1 and 2 pulled out partway to better illustrate theconstruction;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a face view of a goods identification card designed for use inthese drawers to identify the screws,

belts or the like for shipment and sales purposes, as well PaItentedAug.29, 1961 as later by the purchaser to identify the contents of thevarious drawers in a multi-compartment cabinet;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view ofa drawer filled with screws, as shippedby the screw manufacturer, ready for sale, the same having therein anidentification card of the kind shown in FIG. 5 and having the coverslide fastened securely with two pieces of adhesive tape, which areenough to prevent accidental opening of the package and spilling of thecontents and yet permit easy opening by the purchaser;

FIGS. '7 and 8 are a top view and bottom view, respectively, of amulti-compartment plastic cabient made in accordance with my inventiondesigned to receive drawers of the kind shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 6;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are a front view and side View, respectively, of two suchcabients shown horizontally disposed in stacked relation, one of thecompartments in FIG. 9 having a drawer shown inserted therein toillustrate how the drawers are made to fit in the compartments of thecabinets;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view along the lines of FIG. 9, but showing thecabinets interlocked in vertically disposed side by side relationship,one of the four compartments illustrated also having a drawer showntherein, showing that the drawers may be inserted interchangeably witheither of the four walls of a compartment forming the bottom of thecompartment;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged sectional detail of the cabinet constructiontaken on the line 1212 of FIG. 9, this scale corresponding to that forthe drawers shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and

FIG. 13 is an enlarged fragmentary detailtaken on the line 13-13 of FIG.'9, illustrating how the T-shaped ribs on the outer side of one wall ofeach cabinet interfit with the projecting ribs and bosses provided onthe outer side of the opposite wall for alignment of cabinets whenplaced in stacked relation, as in FIG. 9, or as in FIG. 11.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding partsthroughout the views.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 6, each drawer 12 is molded in one pieceof clear plastic material such as polystyrene. The bottom 13, back 14,front 15, and side walls 16 are all of approximately the same thickness,a certain slight outward inclination of the side, back, and front wallswith respect to one another being provided insure easy withdrawal of thedrawer from the mold cavity. The side and back walls are of the sameheight, but the front wall 15 extends a trifle higher so as to defineshoulders 17 for abutment of the front end of a top slide closure 18 inits closed position, the latter being also preferably molded of the sameclear plastic material as the drawer. The side longitudinal edges 19 ofthe closure 18 are bevelled, giving the closure a dovetailcross-section, as seen in FIG. 4, to cooperate with dovetail guides 20provided in upwardly projecting portions 21 on the upper edges of theside walls 16. The bevels 19 are on a smaller angle than the guideways20, as appears in FIG. 4, to reduce surface contact and thus avoid anylikelihood of the slide sticking and being hard to open or close. Theside edges of the front wall 15 project slightly beyond the side walls16, as indicated at 22, to provide finger holds for the more securehandling of a drawer by its one end even when filled with screws or thelike. A semi-circular notch 23 is molded in the top portion of the frontwall 15 at the middle as a finger hole to facilitate withdrawal of adrawer from a compartment using the tip of the index finger, after whichthe drawer when pulled out can be held securely by one end between thethumb and middle finger and steadied with the index finger againsttipping.

Molded integral with the side walls '16 inside the drawer and in closelyspaced substantially parallel relation to the front wall 15 are verticalribs 24 which form one side of acssnas vertical guides 25 for thereception of the edge portions of a cardboard identification card 26shown in FIG. in the laid out flat form and in FIG. 6 as it is used in a:drawer with the top portion 27 bent atright angles along the perforatedtear line 28. The middle portion 29 of .this line is .only scored andleft unperforated so that a Semi-circular tab 30, the periphery of whichis defined by ;a semi-circle 31 of perforations connecting up with theperforations at 28 will tear out when the section 27 is torn off of thecard 26,,leaving the notched main section .132 with its notch inregister with the notch 23 in the .drawer front. On the front of thismain section 32 is printed, as shown, the specifications for the goodscontained in the drawer, as, for example, 1 /4" No. 8 fiat .head slottedwood screws. The price for the package, as, for example, 59, as shown inFIG. 6, is preferably printed on the tear-out tab 30 to be thrown awaywith the end section 27 by the purchaser, but up to that time the tab 3%serves as a closure for notch 23 to keep the package fully closedagainst any loss of screws, the portion 27 being bent down, as appearsin FIG. 6, at right angles to the rest of the card, and the slide 18holding the card in place and being secured against accidentaldisplacement by means of the two strips of adhesive tape 33, .as shownin FIG. 6. That is the way the package is made up by the screwmanufacturer and shipped in quantities to the retailer and placed ondisplay in the store. In this way, at a cost only slightly above whatwould be involved if a cardboard carton of similar size were usedinstead of the plastic container, the screw manufacturer, by furnishingthe plastic container as a premium, encourages the prospective purchaserin buying a larger quantity of each size of screws or bolts than hewould otherwise be apt to purchase at one time, and the retailer makesenough profit out of each sale, even if he sells only one drawer unit,to make it worth his while to feature the screw manufacturers product ina floor or counterdisp-lay. Also, the chances are that with theidentification card 26 going with each drawer bearing the screwmanufacturers name and address, as indicated in FIG. 5, the purchaser ismore apt to go back to the same store where he purchased the drawer fullof screws to .get the drawer refilled with the same kind of screws,assuming the screws first purchased were satisfactory, so that thevolume of sales is increased and the manufacturer and the retailer bothprofit thereby. The purchaser also has the advantage in having theidentification card 26 (which is well protected by but neverthelesseasily readable through the front of the drawer) of knowing what to askfor when replenishing his stock and is therefore not so apt to get thewrong size of screws, and there is less of the retailers time consumedin deter- .mining what the purchaser wants, so that the retailerbenefits from this arrangement also and the whole sales program isimproved over the practice followed in the past. Not only that, but thepurchaser finds there are many advantages in having screws and otheritems in the clear plastic containers, for example, the screws, bolts,etc., are kept nicely sorted instead of jumbled; the user can see .at aglance how much or how little of any given size he has on hand; he doesnot have to worry about the plastic container deteriorating and fallingapart like a cardboard container will in time, and hence, there is nolikelihood of any screws or bolts being spilled and wasted, as so oftenhappens when other old practices are followed. All of these advantagesare obtained even if the purchaser purchases only one or more drawers,without a cabinet, in which case he most likely will keep the slideclosures in the drawers. Ifthe purchaser purchases five drawers and getsa five-compartment cabinet thrown in as a pre mium on such a quantitypurchase he generally discards the slide closure 18, because thecontents of the drawers are sufliciently enclosed when the drawers areinserted in the cabinet.

Elongated multi-cornpartment cabinets like those ;.shown at34:in:FIGS.'7 to 13, are provided foruse with the drawers 12, eachcabinet being molded in one piece of clear plastic material, such aspolystyrene. The cabinets shown each have five compartments 35 toaccommodate five drawers. All of the compartments 35 are square incross-section and the drawers 12 are likewise so that it is immaterialwhich side .of a compartment happens to form the bottom. Hence, :thepurchaser may place a cabinet on end, as in FIG. 11, or lay it down, asin FIG. 9, and, as will soon appear, provision is made forinterengagement of projections on abutting cabinets so as to hold themneatly in aligned relationship, and the interengaging projectionsfunction substantially just as well when the cabinets are stackedalongside one another, as in FIG. 11, or on top of one another, as inFIG. 9. Angular guide bosses 36 are molded integral with the body ofeach cabinet in the four corners of-each compartment 35 to accommodatethe drawers entered in any one of the four different positions possible,depending upon which side of a compartment happens to be disposed on thebottom. These guides 36 are sub- ,Stantially parallel with one another,little or no allowance for draft being necessary on these ribs, becauseof their small width, as in the case of the walls of each compartment.That accounts in FIG. 12 for the rib 36 tapering to zero thickness atthe inner end of the drawer compartment. Good drawer action requiresparallelism of these guides. With these parallel guides 36 to ,supportthe two lower longitudinal edge portions of each of the drawers inclosely spaced relationship to the walls of the compartments, easysliding in and out of all of the drawers is assured, and they are not soapt to stick as a result of uneven shrinking or swelling withtemperature change as might otherwise occur if the drawers had surfaceto surface abutment with the bottoms and sides of the compartments. Adrawer 12 is shown in only one of the compartments in FIGS. 11 and 12 toenable better illustration of the details of the cabinets. The partitionwalls 37 between compartments are tapered from back to front aboutfifteen thousandths of an;inch on each side to enable good draft inmolding. The opposed end walls 38 and the opposed longitudinallyextending walls 39 are of uniform thickness from back to front of thecabinet, but are in diverging relation on the same fifteen thousandth ofan inch taper to assure good draft in molding. The back wall 40 ispreferably a trifle thicker than the walls 38 and 39 because holes 41are provided therein at the center of the end compartments adapted toreceive screws for fastening the cabinets to a supporting wall.

Molded integral with one longitudinal wall 39 of each cabinet on theouter side are elongated T-shaped ribs 2 2 which are preferably alignedwith the two endmost partition walls 37. To inter-fit with theseT-shaped ribs I provide on the outer side of the other wall 39 of eachcabinet two elongated straight ribs 43 spaced to one side of the planesof the endmost partition walls 37, and L-shaped ribs 44 on the otherside of the planes of said partitions, as seen in FIG. 8. There is justenough space between the front ends of ribs 43 and one leg 45 ofL-shaped ribs 44 to accommodate the cros-portion 46 of the T-shaped ribs42., as indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 13, so that it is a simplematter to interengage these projections when stacking the cabinets, asappears in FIG. 9. When these projections are interengaged, thecross-bars 46 on ribs 4-2 prevent any fore and aft relative movement byabutment with ribs 43 and legs 45, as should be clear from inspection ofFIG. .13. Relative endwise movement is prevented by abutment of the oneend of each cross-portion -46 with the other legs 47 of the L-shapedribs 44, in one direction and by abutment of the sides of ribs 42 and 43in the other direction, as should be evident also in FIG. 13. There arefour additional ribs 48, two of which are provided adjacent the endwalls 38 and two in alignment with, the

two -'other"partition'walls, as clearly appears in FIGS.

8 and 9, in parallel relationship to ribs 43, as appears in FIG. 8, andthese ribs 48 project to the same extent from walls 39 as ribs 43 and44, as clearly appears in FIG. 9, so that a good footing is provided fora cabinet that may be laid on a bench or shelf, as indicated by the line49 of FIG. 9, using these ribs for supporting feet. On the other hand,where the stacked cabinets are fastened to a wall, as indicated by theline 50 in FIG. 10, the alignment of the cabinets assured by theinterengagement of the molded projections, makes it possible to maintainflush front alignment for neat appearance of two or more cabinets in agroup, and, of course, this is true whether the cabinets are stackedhorizontally, as in FIGS. 9 and 10, or vertically alongside one anotheras in FIG. 11.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding ofthe objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims havebeen drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and thelike, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawerhaving a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, the front wallbeing of transparent material and having a notch provided in the upperportion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole in pullingthe drawer out of a drawer compartment, a slide closure slidable inguides provided on the side walls to close said drawer except for thenotch in the front wall, and an identification card inserted in saiddrawer behind and readable through the front wall bearing dataidentifying the merchandise placed in said drawer, said card servingalso as a closure for said notch.

2. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and thelike, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawerhaving a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, at least saidfront wall being of transparent material and having a notch provided inthe upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole inpulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a slide closure slidablein guides provided on the side walls to close said drawer except for thenotch in the front wall, and an identification card inserted in saiddrawer behind the front wall identifying the merchandise placed in saiddrawer and serving as a closure for said notch, the data on said cardbeing readable through said front wall, and said card having a tear-outsection which when torn off of the card defines a notch in the cardregistering with the notch in the drawer front.

3. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and thelike, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawerhaving a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, said drawer beingmolded of clear plastic material and having vertical ribs molded on theside walls behind and in closely spaced relationship to the front walldefining guideways therebetween, said front wall having a notch providedin the upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger holein pulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a slide closureslidable in guides provided on the side walls to close said drawerexcept for the notch in the front wall, and an identification cardinserted in said guideways identifying the merchandise placed in saiddrawer and serving as a closure for said notch.

4. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and thelike, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawerhaving a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, the front wallhaving a notch provided in the upper portion thereof of a size adaptedto serve as a finger hole in pulling the drawer out of a drawercompartment, a slide closure slidable in guides provided on the sidewalls to close said drawer except for the notch in the front wall, acard inserted in said drawer and held in place behind the front wall bythe slide closure and serving as a closure for said notch, and meansdetachablv secured to the drawer and slide closure for holding thelatter in closed position, at least the front wall of said drawer havinga window portion through which the card is visible, the card bearingidentification data relative to the contents of the drawer, said cardhaving a tear-out section which when torn 01f defines a notch in thecard registering with the finger hole notch in the drawer front.

5. A combination shipping ticket and drawer label comprising anelongated rectangular card divided transversely intermediate its ends bya tear line along which the card is adapted to be folded while the sameis used in shipment with both end portions, on both of which data isprinted to identify the merchandise whether viewed from the top of thedrawer or from the front of the drawer, the one section being largeenough to serve as a label for the drawer front and being so used whenthe other section is torn off, the middle portion of the tear lineextending into the upper portion of the label section to define atear-out portion which when torn out defines a notch that is arranged toregister with a notch in the drawer front in connection with which saidlabel section is to be used.

6. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and thelike, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawerhaving a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, at least saidfront wall being of transparent material and having a notch provided inthe upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole inpulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a transparent slideclosure slidable in guides provided on the side walls to close saiddrawer except for the notch in the front wall, and a combinationshipping ticket and drawer label comprising an elongated rectangularcard divided transversely intermediate its ends by a tear line alongwhich the card is adapted to be folded while the same is used inshipment with both end portions, on both of which data is printed toidentify the merchandise whether viewed from the top of the drawer orfrom the front of the drawer, said card being folded along the tear lineto right angle form and inserted in said drawer with one section of thecard disposed parallel to and in abutment with the back of the drawerfront and serving as a label and with the other section of the carddisposed under and parallel to the slide closure and serving to furtheridentify the merchandise in the drawer up to the time that the closureis removed and said section of the card therebeneath is torn off.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS337,798 Sweney Mar. 9, 1886 434,044 Estey Aug. 12, 1890 514,929Hatteberg Feb. 20, 1894 747,685 Coye Dec. 22, 1903 988,199 Lockwood Mar.28, 1911 1,076,116 Hatfield Oct. 21, 1913 1,362,328 Knorr Dec. 14, 19201,473,854 Heidland Nov. 13, 1923 1,682,540 Schlegelmilch Aug. 28, 19282,125,313 Ringler Aug. 2, 1938 2,620,252 Restivo Dec. 2, 1952 FOREIGNPATENTS 415,169 Great Britain Aug. 23, 1934 86,706 Sweden June 30, 1936104,760 Sweden June 16, 1942 812,594 Germany Sept. 3, 1951 1,125,609France July 16, 1956

